Dorothy Ruth Hoogstraten (February 28, 1960 – August 14, 1980), who took the stage name Dorothy Stratten, was a Canadian Playboy Playmate, model, and actress. Stratten was the Playboy Playmate of the Month for August 1979, Playmate of the Year in 1980[1] and was the second Playmate (after Lee Ann Michelle) born in the 1960s. Stratten appeared in three comedy films and in at least two episodes of shows broadcast on US network television. She was murdered at the age of 20 by her estranged husband/manager Paul Snider, who committed suicide on the same day. Her death inspired two motion pictures.[2]

In 1977 she was attending Centennial High School in Coquitlam when, while working part-time at a local Dairy Queen, she met 26-year-old Vancouver-area club promoter and pimp, Paul Snider, who romanced her. Snider later had a photographer take professional nude photos of her which were sent to Playboy magazine in the summer of 1978. She was under the age of 19 at the time, which is the legal age to pose nude in Canada so she had to persuade her mother to sign the model release form.[3]

Hefner reportedly encouraged Stratten to sever ties with Snider, calling him a "hustler and a pimp."[3]Rosanne Katon and other friends warned Stratten about Snider's behavior. Stratten began an affair with Peter Bogdanovich while he was directing They All Laughed, her first major studio film.[3] Snider hired a private detective to follow Stratten. They separated and Stratten moved in with Bogdanovich, planning to file for a divorce from Snider. By August 1980 Snider most likely believed that he had lost Stratten and what he had called his "rocket to the moon."[3]

Shortly after noon on August 14, 1980, Snider and Stratten met at Snider's house, where the two had once lived as a couple, and which Snider was by then sharing with its owner, their mutual friend, Dr. Stephen Cushner. Stratten had come to talk about an amicable divorce and brought along $1,000 to give to Snider.[3]

At approximately 11 p.m., Snider's private investigator called Cushner on his private line, saying that he had been trying to telephone Snider for several hours, but Snider would not answer his phone. Cushner broke into Snider's room and found the bodies of Snider and Stratten, both dead from shotgun blasts from a 12 gaugeMossberg shotgun; both bodies were nude. Police believed that Snider raped and murdered Stratten, abused the corpse, then killed himself with the same shotgun.[3][4]

In 1983 film critic Vincent Canby wrote, "Miss Stratten possessed a charming screen presence and might possibly have become a first-rate comedienne with time and work."[2]

In 1984, Peter Bogdanovich's book about Stratten was published, titled The Killing of the Unicorn.[5] Four years later, at age 49, Bogdanovich married Stratten's sister, Louise, who was 20. Bogdanovich had paid for Louise's private schooling and modeling classes following Stratten's death.[6] They divorced in 2001 after being married for 13 years.